nothing in particular...

Haven't said anything in a few days, so I figured what the hell.I didn't go play poker tonight. Thought about it, then remembered my knee STILL hurts. Besides, took a half day off today and went to see Transformers 2. Good movie. Very good actually. Sat a bit close for my liking, but with my crutch by my side, the seat was worth it. No chance of someone trying to come through the aisle and forcing me to move my leg. I used the crutch to prop my leg up, which worked well.

Other than that it's been pretty quiet. Went to Cherokee Friday night, then Downstream Saturday night. Had a MUCH better time Saturday. Was a whim, so nobody knew we were going. Had a blast. It's about an hour drive, but we set the cruise and admired the open area. Much better than NY, or anywhere else I've been. Hate clutter. It sucks! I hate it so much that yesterday coming home from work I took the long way home to enjoy the openness of the area.

Keeping my vacation in October, but not going to my cousin's daughter's wedding (is the punctuation wrong in that sentence? who gives a shit!? I don't!). Decided no for a couple of reasons...(1) it's not cheap. I have to rent a car, stay in a not so cheap hotel for 2 nights, gas, food, gift. (2) I haven't seen family for over 20 years. I would feel out of place, everyone would try to be nice to me, ask me how everything is, etc, but it would be awkward as hell. So, better off not going. Besides, I really don't have too much interest in seeing most of them. There will be an aunt and uncle there who I would love to see, but when you weigh the "pros vs cons" I made the right decision to say no.

Slow Saturday...

It's one of those days. I am going to stay in the house and rest my knee. Made the mistake yesterday of NOT listening to the doctor and went walking WAY too much without my crutches. Why, you may ask? Because I'm stupid, how's that for a response? Went to the casino last night with my wife, they were giving me free money. Yeah, what a joke that was. Stood in line after line for about an hour to take a frisbee that I apparently wasn't allowed to keep because the girl took it, verified my $49 prize, then put the frisbee out of my reach. What a fucking bitch she was too. Sorry if you don't like your job. You know what? Deal with it or get the fuck out. There are plenty of people who will do it and do it pleasantly. Anyway, had to park REAL far, and walked without my crutch. Halfway through the parking lot, I was already feeling it. Ann was sweet enough to go to the car and get it for me, but the damage was done. I also twisted it twice while sitting (or trying to sit) at a machine. I screamed, people thought I won money, saw the twisted pain in my face, and realized I was hurting so continued to ignore me. I have also learned that this casino SUCKS! Machines do not pay out, dealers at tables laugh at you when THEY win your money, and it was over a 1-hour wait to get on to a poker table. It's a fucking Friday, it's BUSY, and you don't have enough tables AND dealers?? I am going to that casino ONCE MORE in 2 weeks because of a slot tourney, and then I am DONE with them. Missouri casino, congrats. You have just won my business and my money.

Changes comin'...

Got word yesterday that my manager is leaving for another position within the company. After 2 years in Arkansas, he will be going north. I remember when he was announced (and I was a temp then), thoughts around the office were basically "what the hell does a warehouse guy know about sales." When he got to us, we had a small informal meeting for each of us to introduce ourselves and what we do. Well, when he got there, I was a temp, and "short term" at that. So my introduction was "I'm on my way out, so say hi to my ass" (in so many words). I was fortunate enough to work with and around him for almost 6 months, and when a position opened up I was the one he called and helped me get hired. I've now been at the U for 15+ months, and he's leaving. You will be missed sir, even if I am not showing it. Please note our conversation from earlier today...there are those I would like you to take with you, preferably sending them ahead SOON to get used to the area. However, as also stated earlier today, I'll quit the U before taking a transfer north. There isn't enough money to get me back.

Tomorrow is the appointment with the orthopedic. There are those that have been asking what the next step is with this. Will finally have an answer for them. I really don't know. I really believed it was a torn ACL or MCL or one of the CL's, I would have surgery, MAYBE spend the night in the hospital, then come home, get back to work and do therapy. Six weeks later would be fine. Hopefully the recovery from what I have is that quick, and will not require surgery. We'll see.

What a day...

No I'm not bragging, I'm just very proud of myself for what I did. What am I talking about? Read on McDuff..

Today started like any other normal day. Woke up, showered, dressed, went to work. This week has been a very quiet one considering how the rest of the season has been to this point. I have all of my reports caught up, no promotions to concern myself with (writing-wise I mean), and products overall are doing well. So, when I got to work this morning, I decided to put my name down for summer hours. What this means is that if you put in the hours during the week, you can take 1/2 day off on Friday to enjoy the summer and start the weekend a little early. That was the plan. I went out for a cigarette about 10:15 and noticed it was rather dark out. So I hobbled to my car and closed my car windows. They said it may rain, this time they were right. I left work at 11:45, and it was raining out. At 11:46 I was in my car when the tornado sirens went off. OK, this is interesting. I called home to check on Anthony, he was OK. I put the radio on and of course they broke in with the alerts, and all I heard the entire way home was the weather report. I called home 3x and made sure Anthony had the mattress in the hallway just in case. So I got home, and sure enough, there was SEVERE weather all around. Thunder, lightning, all kinds of shit.

A little while after I got home, I start hearing a dog yelping. It sounded hurt, in pain. I looked out and my neighbor's dog was trying to get through the wood gate. I figured he was scared and yelping because he was trying to get out. I looked a couple of minutes later and the dog was laid flat on the ground, still most in part out of the gate. I realized the gate was closing on his neck. So, I stripped off everything metal, including my leg brace, and ran out to try to help. Long story short, I got the owner's son and we got the dog out and he was fine.

I got back in the house, took off the wet clothes, took a Vicodin, and the doctor called with my test results. Well, boys and girls, I do not have any torn ligaments in my knee. I was kinda hoping I did, so they could do surgery and I'd rehab and be fine in a few weeks. NOPE, didn't tell me that. Told me that I have a hairline fracture on the outside of my knee. No cast is needed, but keep the leg stabilizer on and now I need crutches. I am not allowed to put any weight on my knee. This truly sucks!! Next week I will follow up with an orthopedic surgeon and find out what the next step is. Will try to keep you posted, my faithful reader.

MRI

Yesterday is my AWA (alternate work arrangement) day, so I got to work from home. It was the perfect day to do it. Not much going on at work this week in terms of promotions and such, no issues with orders going out, and my knee has been HURTING the past couple of days. I was able to relax, sit on my couch with my leg up when necessary, and enjoyed lunch with my son, where we played Nintendo Wii. Today I had my MRI scheduled for 8:15 and couldn't decide if I was going to start the day working from home and going to the hospital from here, or going to work then going to the hospital (which is 3 minutes from work). I decided to go to work, and what a good decision that was. The only BAD thing was, I brought a change of clothes with me to work because I couldn't have anything metal on. Well, what do you think a zipper is made of, string?? I changed to sweats, no jewelry, no metal. When I got there, I had to change into paper pants and a gown. Oh well, so much for changing. I could have kept on what I had and changed there.

The MRI went great. The x-ray technician was great. She even remembered me from when I went in for my regular x-ray a week and a half ago. So I layed in the bed thing, they put the pads around my knee, gave me earplugs (the MRI is loud!), and in I went. I went right to sleep -- kinda. I zone out, pretty much focus on nothing. The bad thing is when the machine stops making noise and the tech asks "Are you OK in there?" I have to come out of my zone to say "Yes ma'am" then try to go back in before the machine goes loud again. Made it through without any problems though.

Ooooh Jack Russell Hurdle Racing...

Sorry, ADHD kicked in. Where was I? Looking up, my ADHD kicked in at the right time, cuz I was done. Tomorrow is Friday, woohoo! Saturday Anthony is going to a friend's birthday party, Ann will be at work, and I have NO idea what I'm going to do. Normally I would say CASINO but with my knee being fucked up, I doubt that's going to happen. I'll probably come home and watch the College World Series. Arkansas is in, so it would be worth watching, if for no other reason than to keep up with conversations at work next week.

Also, the float trip that I was so looking forward to going on with work, which was scheduled for today but cancelled due to a strong chance of severe weather, was postponed until next week. Makes sense, because today turned out to be nice (at least here anyway). I am not going though. Worried about my knee, so that's keeping me from doing just about everything but walking to the bathroom. Oh, and grocery shopping. I still love doing that.

Knee follow-up...

Went to the doctor today as a follow-up from last week. Doctor read me the x-ray results, and I have absolutely NO idea what he said. The gist of it is there is SOMETHING wrong with my knee, but of course a regular x-ray couldn't tell. So, he is sending me for an MRI, and I go this Thursday at 8:15am. This should prove to be an interesting day, as I am unsure if I am going into the office before (the hospital is 1/4 of a mile away from work) or stay home, and go to work afterwards. I am also supposed to be on a conference call at 9am (not sure if I'll make that one). Then, at 11:30, I am going to lunch with the ice cream team to welcome a new intern to our group. At 2pm (or is it at 3?) I think I have a meeting. Busy busy day. Somewhat looking forward to it. This week is going to be fairly quiet as there are no promotions to write, which makes work sloooooooow. The good thing, though, is I have projects that I am working on, and this gives me plenty of time to get them done quickly as well as efficiently without interruption. This makes the bosses happy, which keeps me from getting yelled at and the like.

1988...

You died 21 years ago today, and the pain is now as it was then.
I miss you Dad!

Knee is still attached...

What a week. I went to work Monday and limped around all morning. I had a doctor appointment at 1:45 so I left work early, hooked up my laptop at home, and worked until it was time to go. Ann was off from work that day, so I let her drive. We went to the doctor, he saw my knee was carrying a bowling ball (for those of you too stupid to understand that statement...my knee was swollen to double the normal size), moved my leg around, pushed on the knee (which I don't mind saying hurt like hell!), and told me to go to the hospital for an x-ray to make sure there were no broken bones. I didn't need an x-ray because I knew nothing was broken, but hey, he wrote the prescription for it. He also gave me an anti-inflammatory (my 3d bottle of the same stuff that STILL doesn't seem to be doing anything), more Vicodin (my new best friends), and a prescription for a leg stabilizer (again, for you stupid people, a brace for my leg that will not allow my knee to bend). So we dropped off the scrips at Wal-Mart, got my x-ray, went to 2 medical supply facilities to find the stabilizer, and THEN had to pick Anthony up at school because he missed the bus. Afterwards, Ann dropped me off, we had dinner, then she went and got my meds. That's all Monday.

Tuesday and Wednesday I had training with work. It was interesting. I think I got something out of it (besides a couple of free lunches - which reminds me, who in the HELL puts mustard in tuna salad?!?!? FUCKIN' YUCK!!). Today was back at work per usual. The good thing is that a promo I wrote last week got all of its ship-withs (product to fill the truck) and there do not seem to be any issues. So, I did my morning reports and then did alot of reports that have been "lagging behind" because of the fact that working 11 hours per day is apparently not long enough for me to get ALL of my work done. Also had 2 meetings today, which the second one made me upset. I was late for it. WHY? Well, I'm glad YOU asked. All I got from the one running the meeting was an attitude of "how dare you be late!" and a dirty look. Well, excuse me for putting my JOB and my CUSTOMER first before a bullshit meeting that doesn't mean anything because the person "running" the meeting is going to TELL you what he wants, regardless of whatever suggestions you may make. I kept my mouth shut, but believe me, you do NOT want to be around when my timer expires.

Now I sit with my leg elevated, a pain in my knee, and WAITING and HOPING for a fight in a Stanley Cup Finals hockey game. Good scoring game though. Pittsburgh JUST went up 3-2 with 9:26 left in the 2nd period. I guess I should pay more attention. And I think I will.